Fluffy......Ut Oh!!

Well Fluffy was very social today and showed herself MORE than I wish! she has definate "saddle bags" I am 98% sure she may be pregnant! OH no!! If she is this nervous herself I can just picture her hiding the kittens all over the place! I hope Im wrong, I could be, but seriously I looked at her closely twice today and I am pretty sure. I think our rescuing days are gonna slow down or completley stop after this! Oh Boy.

I'm sorry, but the very first thing you should have done before you brought her inside was get her to a vet. Not only because she needed to be spayed.... but because she could transmit fleas, internal parasites and who-knows-what diseases to the rest of your cats!

I don't think you should rescue any more cats until you're willing to be responsible about how you do it.

Not all of your cats are spayed and neutered?

There are lots of low cost spay and neuter clinics in Virginia.

http://www.paw-rescue.org/sn.php

My local humane society does them for certain people and people maintaining feral cats. Try yours.

ALL of my cats get fixed as soon as they are old enough. I get it and shots free cause we have a special program through medicaire
The day hubby found her was a blizzard, and we do not ever get snow here let alone a big blizzard so we were snowed in and nothing was open for like a week!! I could not bare to leave her in that viceous horrible mean nasty cage she was in. Sorry, maybe my heart is bigger than my brains, but I am sorry if you are angry with me, I love cats more than life itself. We were able to worm her and give her flea medicine before we let her out.
Anyway, I will stop writing about her cause Im tired of people giving me attitude. All im trying to do is love an unloved kitty.

Originally Posted by crazycatlady777

ALL of my cats get fixed as soon as they are old enough. I get it and shots free cause we have a special program through medicaire
The day hubby found her was a blizzard, and we do not ever get snow here let alone a big blizzard so we were snowed in and nothing was open for like a week!! I could not bare to leave her in that viceous horrible mean nasty cage she was in. Sorry, maybe my heart is bigger than my brains, but I am sorry if you are angry with me, I love cats more than life itself. We were able to worm her and give her flea medicine before we let her out.
Anyway, I will stop writing about her cause Im tired of people giving me attitude. All im trying to do is love an unloved kitty.

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No one is giving you attitude. Everyone here loves cats too. There are other things she could have had that she could easily pass to your cats.

That sounds like a great program - never heard of it before.

I don't know who's given you "attitude" other than me in the post above, and that was out of concern for the cats - which is what brings us together on the site in the first place.

Obviously the problem is that she was pregnant (if she is) when you rescued her.

I'm sorry I came down "heavy" in my post. I've just rescued for a long time, and have seen too many problems - and too many kittens.

Separating a new rescue kitty is just responsible, and perhaps the reasons why are not something you've considered because - luckily for you - it's never been a problem before. But maybe the information here can help prevent problems for you, your cats - or other people's kitties if they've just recued a cat and are searching the site for information.

I don't know what flea or de-worming medication you used. But over-the-counter meds are actually a health risk for cats. De-worming meds purchased at a pet store or supermarket do not work the same way as de-worming meds purchased through a vet. I'm sorry if you already know this. But if you don't, it's knowledge you need.

OTC de-worming meds do not kill the worms. They only cause the cat to expel live worms - which increases the risk that your other cats then become wormy. Also, if a cat has round worm, any de-wormer needs to be applied again in about three weeks, because the medication only kills the adult worms, not the eggs. The eggs need to mature, and then the de-wormer needs to be given to the cat again in order to kill what have become adult round worms. Sometimes it needs to be given a third time (again after three weeks).

There is a topical product, Revolution or Advantage Plus, that kills fleas, flea eggs, and internal parasites. Because it's good for a month, a second application is usually good enough to finish off the internal parasites.

I think it's wonderful that you love kitties - but there are just so many things a rescue cat can have that can spread to our existing kitties that they really ought to be separated before allowing them to interact. Two that have caused a number of people endless problems are giardia and ring worm. But that's just the tip of the iceburg. An isolation period is important to ensure they don't have something as simple as a URI to something as horrible as distemper or FeLV.

Yes, this site is here for us to share our love of kitties. But it is also a place to share knowledge and learn new things. I've learned from experience and keep learning new things all the time.

Thank you for this note. I should not have written that, I just was so embarassed and felt stupid and felt scolded. I dont do well with critisim but you are sooo right! This is the first rescue kitty we have brought into our home. Alll our other kitties were from liters of people we know. When hubby rescues he is always lucky at finding homes for them. But this one was such a different situation, she was out all night in a freezing blizard traped in a viceous trap and she was frozen and scared and the whole town was shut down and well like I said we thought with our hearts not our heads.
Right around Thanksgiving a pretty kitty showed up at our door, it was still quite warm here and you could see she had something wrong, she was missing so much hair, other than that she was fine. We put a flea collar on her and fed her and watered her ect. ect. she lived by our door. Anyway, her hair came back and she gained weight and was wonderful. Anyway, we have an elderly gentleman next door. He is alone all the time. I dont know how it happend but Sassy (I named her that and it FITS!!) and Don fell in love with eachother and she is so loved and spoiled and Don's attitude and health has improved considerably!! He loves her so much and her him. This is what usually happens when hubby finds kitties, we always find the right match. Anyway, if Fluffy is in fact pregnant this will be tough. We cant catch her it is impossible for us to get ahold of her. I want to take her to the Animal No Kill Shelter and let them deal with this if she is pregnant. I dont know what I will do if she does have kittens cause you have to keep them at least 7 weeks and that is too long I fall in love FAST!! I wish I could catch her and let them deal with it. If we cant and she does have kittens I am hoping and praying we can catch her and the babbies and bring them to the shelter. Wish us luck!!
And Im glad we cleared this up cause I LOVE this site!!!! You guys are the greatest, ALL cat lovers are GREAT!!

Some things for you to consider, and something you haven't encountered yet.

Pregnant cats can be spayed. It is a very personal decision that everyone has to make for his/her self. It's not something ANYONE likes to have to do. There does come a point where a vet will not do it. Spaying a pregnant cat is always a hard, sad, decision. But one that many of us do choose to make - because there are already so many unwanted kitties out there.

...and unless you did use either Revolution or Advantage Plus to de-worm her, she most likely has worms and it is entirely possible the rest of your crew now has worms as a result. When we were actively bringing kitties in to foster, we had to deworm everyone to stop the cycle.

As to fleas.... flea collars are actually dangerous to use and can kill your pet. http://hartzkills.org/ The problem is that ANY product that will kill a flea or a worm by definition is a poison. The problem is finding a poison that kills the intended victim and not your pet. Over-the-counter meds are using poisons that often also kill the pet. This is because the law only requires the company to label the product a certain way - it is NOT the same for meds for pets as meds for people. Yes, medication from the vet costs more. But this is because the companies producing it have spent the money researching it - and that is what makes it safe for your pet. Flea collars are great - to cut up and put in a vaccuum to kill fleas and eggs that get into your house. But they can also kill your cat or dog so should not be used on your animal.

What I'd do if I were you is this. When you know she's in a room that she can be kept in for a while, I'd close the door. Go in later to get other cats out of there. Check it for hiding places, and remove as many as possible. Put a crate in there with a cat bed or blanket or something that smells like one of the other cats you know she's friendly with. Make sure the door can't close.

If she needs to hide from people, she'll have to use the crate.

Move a litter pan in there, and put food and water in there for her. If you feed meals instead of free feeding, start doing it on a schedule. Knock on the door before going in there.

Call the vet or clinic or whatever - make sure you can bring her in whenever you can crate her rather than on some specific schedule. This usually means dropping them off and picking them up later.... but most vets/clinics are willing to do it because they understand the problem.

And just give her no place to go and nowhere to hide but that crate. It's the only way you'll get her to the vet.

I'd have them treat her for anything she needs being treated for. I'd take a poop sample just to ensure she doesn't have giardia. And they'll let you know if she's pregnant or not.... and you can have already thought about what you want to do if she is.

Many vibes to you and to her.

Really I dont want to keep her pregnant or not. We have too many already. N thank you for all the info. I hate to have an excuse for everything but the only room that has a door is the bedroom and her hiding place is under the bed. And there are several other hiding places in the bedroom, we would have to empty the whole rom and that would take days! Also you must remember it was a trap that got her in this situation in the first place and cats NEVER forget so I know theres no way she would willingly go into a crate.
As for spaying while pregnant OMG!!!! It hurt even to read that suggestion. definatealy not anything ld ever do. And she looks REALLY pregnant, not just a little. She is very tiny looks about a year old so I doubt at a year old and being that little I doubt she is "just fat"
All this is really kinda null and void anyway cause my hubby is madly in love with her and he says he is keeping her no matter what.

I was going to say I didn't catch that you were going to take her to the rescue - but now I'm confused 'cuz hubby says he's keeping her period!

I hope she's just full of worms and not pregnant.

Yeah, hubby heard me on the phone saying I wanted to catch her and drop her off at the no kill shelter and let her be their responsability. Sure I want to keep her but I just dont know. But anyway when he heard me say that he was yelling "This is her home andwe are her family and she is not leaving ever!" so he has the say so, we live old fashioned where he is the how do you say, decision maker, king of the castle so to speak lol